In a water-cooled outboard engine, it is known to have cooling water drawn in by means of a water pump provided within a gear case, to circulate it through a cylinder jacket, and to then discharge it from the system. The circulation of the cooling water stops if the suction inlet therefor becomes clogged or if the water pump breaks down, which would lead to overheating of the engine and thereby cause cylinder or piston damage.
Further, if a propeller with a smaller pitch than the standard value is used, or one with the standard pitch is used but with a small load, the engine speed can rise to an undesirable level, reducing the life of the engine to a remarkable extent.
Recently, a separate oiling type of outboard engine has become widely used. In such an outboard engine, when the level of the oil drops to a prescribed level or below, or when an oil filter becomes clogged, the operator must be warned in some way of the shortage of oil or clogging of the filter.
An alarm device for outboard engines is required from the above-described viewpoints.
A known alarm device for outboard engines is of a type which includes a control system for selectively suppressing ignition pulses to maintain the engine speed below a fixed value when the engine speed becomes too high because of the use of a propeller with a smaller pitch than the standard value or owing to the generation of cavitation during running. This system also controls the engine speed and at the same time generates an alarm for the operator by an alarming means such as a buzzer when the circulation of cooling water stops due to an abnormality generated in the cooling system of the engine, when the oil level drops to an alarming level in a separate oiling engine, or when the oil does not flow due to clogging of an oil filter.
However, an operator may not notice the operation of the system which inhibits excessive engine speed. With an alarming device in which a lamp or the like is lit to indicate that the excessive speed inhibition system is in operation, lighting of the lamp must be viewed by the operator for recognition,.thus meaning the operator will not take any immediate action to reduce the speed if the operator does not notice the lamp.
With an alarming device in which abnormalities or operation of the excessive speed inhibition system is indicated by a buzzer or by lighting a lamp, the operator may in fact promptly notice the buzzer or lamp, but find it impossible to quickly determine what abnormality is taking place. An object of the present invention is to provide a vocal alarm system for an outboard engine which is capable of obviating the aforementioned problems of the prior art, and which enables an operator to be promptly and clearly informed of the precise nature of an abnormality by outputting in a vocalized form an alarm specifying the nature of the abnormality, so as to make the operator promptly take suitable action.